CBI to charge Devyani Khobragade in Adarsh Scam

New Delhi: Controversies surrounding Devyani Khobragade, have became even more messy.  In fresh trouble for the Indian diplomat, CBI has decided to file a chargesheet against her and her father, Uttam Khobragade, in the Adarsh Housing society scam.

Sources reveal that chargesheet against the two would be filed in the next couple of weeks after the agency found documented evidenc to prove that Devyani submitted a false affidavit to obtain a flat in Adarsh society.

"It was Devyani's father Uttam Khobragade who gave a false affidavit on her behalf while she was posted in the United States in which he hid information about her possessing a flat in Oshiwara under the government quota," said a senior CBI officer. The agency has been probing illegal beneficiaries and benami properties in the Adarsh scam.

Devyani, who was arrested in the US last December for alleged visa fraud and later released, and is now posted in India.

CBI has been examining documents related to 25 illegal beneficiaries in Adarsh housing society in Mumbai. A judicial commission, headed by retired high court judge J A Patil, had brought to light irregularities in allotment. The panel's report was tabled in the Maharashtra assembly in December last year. Khobragade was found to have owned a flat in the controversial Adarsh housing society in 2010.

CBI sources said the probe revealed that Devyani had been allotted a flat in another government housing society in Oshiwara in 2005. "We examined the documents of Directorate General of Defence Estates according to which members cannot get flats in two housing societies which get land on concessional rates," said the officer on condition of anonymity.

Devyani's father Uttam Khobragade, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, is former CEO of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority.

According to the judicial panel report, the diplomat, in her deposition to the two-member panel, falsely stated that she bought a flat in Jogeshwari, a western suburb in Mumbai, in 2005 instead of 2004 when she applied for a membership in the Adarsh society. It stated that Khobragade was still a member of Meera Cooperative Housing Society in Jogeshwari at the time her membership of Adarsh society was approved.

Sources say Khobragade and her father were also silent on the price of the Adarsh flat in their statement and the source of funding. However, a copy of the Adarsh Society ledger shows that a little over Rs 1 crore was paid. Subsequently, her declaration of assets on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs shows that the flat in the Adarsh society was bought using the proceeds from the sale of the flat in Jogeshwari.

The Adarsh panel also stated that Khobragade owns agricultural land in Delhi, Aurangabad, Thane, Pune and has investments of large sums.